That is interesting if he was not even invited, I believed/thought he had turned it down (and "snubbed" Biden) but that may have just been pro Russia disinfo (!) They cling desperately to the small number of pathetic "friends" they have around the world + particularly trumpet Hungary, because it is in both the EU and NATO.
It is understandable in hindsight depending on what was discussed, because if Orbán were present, I expect a full report of any decisions taken and exactly who said what at meetings between the leaders behind closed doors would be made to the Kremlin.
Yes unfortunately it could have prevented alot more damage and casualties
But i really hope they get to shoot down most of the ballistic missiles where Russia have the upper hand at the moment
Drones and slow cruise missiles doesnt seem to have such an impact anymore.
Could have been received in Poland by Ukrainians ,not necessarily deployed to Ukraine proper ,
No they pretty much weren't arming the Ukrainans with anything other than a few humvees and a few counter battery radars,
It's a myth unfortunately
It's a big country and western AA wouldn't have the same range as Russian ones. AWAC's on the Polish border help, but ideally Ukraine would need one themselves.
But yeah Imagine all the destruction that could have been prevented if western AA was delivered to Ukraine as fast as possible.
IRIS/T, NASAMS, Patriot and soon SAMP/T.
Shifting geopolitical realities,lol yes Russia invading Ukraine,Georgia and Moldova should be realities enough
The Belarusian opposition sure pulled of a coup with that strike.
its a shame they dont get alot more as well
Well it's for certain that had Biden told Putin at some point during the massive buildup; 'I hope you aren't planning on doing anything rash, I have given Ukraine 4 nuclear weapons and the means to deploy them.' The invasion never would have happened.
The US's fixation and obsession with non-proliferation is partly resposible for this situation in the first place. The easiest and cheapest way to protect Taiwan against China would be to do the same, in secret and only announced as a last resort.
Not by much though, would putin have invaded while trump was busy downsizing and trying to dismantle NATO? Before NordStream 2 was mostly complete or while most countries were locked down in a pandemic? (those are also reasons why the equipment being there couldn't have happened) but you'd be looking at the likes of Kazakhstan now and looking to what they should be doing (given how impotent the russian army has turned out to be against an organised smaller force).
Tweet says received, so I assume it's crossed the border into Ukraine. I know it takes time to physically deploy. There was another tweet I was going to post, which clarified it (delivered, not deployed etc...), but it also mentioned this will finally enable Ukraine to shoot down ballistic missiles (there's been some debate here on that, so I wanted to spare that drama again)
I'd also say pressure from having the 4th highest inflation rate in Europe is having an effect also. A lot of his political success came from the alleged stability of the Hungarian economy, if that's shaky then his political future is clouded because people don't like their freedoms eroded but they especially don't like a struggling economy.
He absolutely Still would have invaded,he had the numbers and time on his hand he thought it would have been another 2014, some words said at the UN and redline statements and nothing else meanwhile ukraine would have been reduced to a tiny landlocked state russia in sole control of the black sea ,
Moldova and Belarus would be integrated back into the motherland and suddenly Russia would be om Polands and elsewheres borders,.
But putin and the majority of people didn't bet on the Ukrainans standing and fighting.
USA was already arming Ukraine since 2014. If you are talking about tanks, HIMARs, Patriot systems etc - these cannot be secretly delivered overnight to Ukraine. They have to be approved by congress. Russia would simply have brought their timetable forward.
I'm sure he still would have invaded. They certainly wouldn't have gotten as much land initially.
Can you imagine how that 40 mile Russian convoy outside of Kyiv would have faired with HIMARS.
That's what I was thinking,
Not seeing it on other outlets or sites , other than Ukrainians are training on them
When I saw the heading, I tried to guess why the leopard was pretending to change it's spots. One was; 'I wonder who failed to invite him to their party.'
The analyst said Orban was fretting after not being invited to the summit of leaders of all Eastern European countries in Warsaw, where Biden was personally present.
How any Hungarians, or East Europeans, could have a soft spot for the Orcs is beyond me.
You do wonder what of the alternate reality where western based equipment was already in-situ before russia invaded, i.e. if Ukraine had all the equipment they have received and been promised to date ~this time last year, would putin have even tried to invade or just sat complaining and sabre rattling.
I noticed it when this all kicked off it went from one or two well known accounts that were operating for years and gave accurate assessments and analysis,then all of a sudden hundreds popped up claiming to be exmilitary or something else and all unvarifible sources,
12 months ago people couldn't find Ukraine on a map but now believe they are experts on all things ukraine.
I think it's this article they're referring to, which is certainly not as definitive about it as the Kyiv Post tweet implies:
Ukraine is understood to have received one of two Patriot air defence systems promised by the US and Germany, but it is not yet operational. It is also expecting some Patriot launchers from the Netherlands.
Might not be true,
It's not on the ft website who supposedly made the claim,from what I gather the Ukrainans are still training on the systems.
Be interesting to see any real confirmation
Ya you have to kill them somewhere Bakhmut is a good a place as any. Again I taught last Autumn it was an ideal killing zone
Ya gonna blame the weather for this howler too? 😂
I was listening to the latest episode of the Battleground podcast. They attended a briefing from Western officials where they were shown intelligence reports where the deduced reasoning for why Ukraine was continuing to hang on in Bakhmut was pretty much that. Or, as they put it succinctly, "to kill Russians".
I'm sure he's being facetious but the underlying point is true. There are a lot of accounts masquerading as OSINT where the primary goal is pushing a particular message and gaining followers.
On the contrary, there are many actual OSINT organisations/accounts out there who can back up everything that they report such as Oryx. That's the gold standard.
Really,have you heard of Putins hybrid warfare?and seperatists movements?
Russias interference and influence in Moldova,Georgia and Ukraine is the reason for the conflicts,nobody else
Ya it's grand going out to an African state where you are back up to there regular army. You are up against poorly armed rebels with no military training and poor equipment.
You can do a bit of murdering, raping and looting. The risk factor is may e 1-2 get killed a year out of a thousand
I imagine Wagner find it handy enough to recruit mercenaries when said mercenaries expect to be pitted against poorly trained/armed militias from developing countries. Not so easy when the mercenaries know they are going up against Western backed/trained Ukrainians and Western Tech.
Shame it wasn't deployed just a little bit sooner.
That has nothing to do with alot of the comment from last May about parlous state of Ukrainian military ("outclassed").
They seem to be holding their own.
They may do even more than that if the "West" supports them more with the aim of giving Russia a really good beating here, vs (IMO) main strategy during this war of watching what Russia does next and increasing support to Ukraine to check that move.
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